The Light in the Darkness

This year, I'd like to offer a few stories. Maybe a deeper look at Bible stories or modern stories that present a Biblical truth.

Today is a Bible story from Acts 20:7-12. I'd like to take you deeper into the story to see the sights and sounds, "the just like us" human side of the story, because the Bible is just as much about us as it is about the people who lived those stories. Enjoy.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Matthew 5:14

Children chattered and played as they walked with their parents carrying baskets of food and their lamps. Tonight was the last night to hear and visit with Paul before he sailed to Assos. There was a large house, three stories high, where they had agreed to gather. Neighbors watched as the little troop grew larger the closer they came to the house.

The ladies in the house welcomed the guests, taking the baskets and spreading the food along tables for everyone to share. A little food, a little fellowship, a little preaching, because of the buzz of the house no one noticed how late the hour had become.

Neighbors noticed the lamps twinkling into light in a third story room. “What’s going on there?” Their own lamps were going out one by one as they laid down for the night.

Eutychus, a young man, sat propped in a window to catch the night breeze and make room for the older folks to sit. As Paul preached toward midnight, Eutychus’ eyes began to droop and his head to nod. Several times, he’d caught himself from falling onto the old man seated in front of him. He’d rearranged himself hoping to wake up. He wanted to hear and he didn’t want to begin to snore. Suddenly his arms flailed and he toppled out the window to the street below.

People screamed. Lights poured into the streets. Eutychus was dead! The commotion awakened the neighbors. Paul pushed his way through the crowd, then gathered the young man in his arms. “His life is in him,” he declared as Eutychus’ eyes fluttered open.

“Hallelujah! Praise God! Thank you, Jesus!”came the exclamations from the crowd as they lifted their hands and faces heavenward.

Thank you Jesus? Who is this Jesus? , the neighbors whispered along the street. They watched as the people filed back into the house, talking, praising.

Inside the people prayed, ate, listened, and asked questions until dawn when the town began to stir again. Eutychus, the young man was helped home as the people dispersed. Neighbors watched and eyed the window where last night he had fallen.

Lamps through the night, a dead man raised alive, people praising Jesus. “We’ve never seen anything like this before.”

To think, it seemed to have started with lights shining in the dark.

Hey Kids:
What's your favorite Bible story?

I love to take a story and imagine the sights and sounds and smells that may
not be described.

Try taking your favorite story and make a list using your five senses.
In the story above:
I could hear children talking and playing.

I could smell the food spread for the visitors and the oil and smoke from the lamps.

I could see the lights, the neighbors, the people coming in,
and Eutychus propped in a window.

I could feel the breathless thud of Eutychus fall,
because I have fallen from just a short distance and the breath knocked out of me.

I wanted to taste the food because I know potluck meals are always delicious.

So what's your story. I love to have a chance to read it.

Blessings for your writing,

Gail